The present invention relates to techniques for testing instrumentation response to changing fluid characteristics and more particularly to improved devices and techniques for providing changes in relative humidity to enable the observation of sensor response.
As rapid changes in technology lead to the development of more sophisticated instrumentation, knowledge of the operation and efficiency of such instrumentation under different environmental conditions is necessary to circumvent problems that may be created by those different environments. New techniques must therefore be developed which will simulate various environmental conditions to enable the calibration and observation of measuring instruments prior to practical use. In the areas of humidity testing particularly, it is often desirable to ascertain the response of humidity sensors to rapid changes in relative humidity. While prior systems have been able to change the humidity of the environment surrounding such sensors, the same has been accomplished by observing the dynamic response only (i.e., the response obtained by observing sensor action in a flowing stream of gas). Since such systems are not capable of rapidly changing the relative humidity without deleterious effects due to desorption and adsorption caused by flow mechanisms, sensor response to anticipated environmental effects cannot be observed. There is, therefore, a continuing need for systems capable of providing test simulations for instrumentation of this type.
Accordingly, the present invention has been developed to overcome the specific shortcomings of the above-known and similar techniques and to provide a system for rapidly changing the relative humidity of the fluid medium surrounding a test sensor.